I can answer a few questions based on my understanding.
Every parachain (L2, rollup, etc.) needs at least one core to be connected to the Polkadot network. Soon, parachains will be able to purchase more than one core and split their computational load across up to 12 cores. This enables a very high throughput of computation as well as reduces the block time of when the parachain can author a block. Some benefits arise from this:
- NeuroWeb might want 6 cores if they plan to bulk-mint knowledge assets onto their DKG
- Hydration might want 12 cores to allow 0.5 second USDC transfers and token swaps with sub-penny fees
- Mythos might launch a new game and need to balance asset minting and latency for a smooth user experience.
If a parachain does not have at least 1 core, then they can purchase blockspace on-demand. That might not be a bad solution for SubSocial as a last resort, but Hydration would be crippled. If they have no method of getting blockspace, then they might choose to relaunch on Kusama if a core is available (which they currently are not). No core, no blockspace, no blocks.
I’m not going to speak to the cost and price, as that is still up to the larger market to decide. However, with the additional cores being opened as a recovery option - I believe that ultimately falls to RegionX not being fully live and enabling secondary market coretime sales in a trustless way. More information on that whole (ongoing) event can be found here
As for the sales pitch and Gav’s role in “selling” Polkadot. I think he’s been pretty clear that he is distancing himself from that kind of CEO role. Even stepping away from leading Parity and W3F. I think people should respect that decision as I’m sure he’s a lot happier tinkering on cool stuff than trying to run a company or organization. Parity and W3F have leadership and are doing their parts to support Polkadot. As for Polkadot’s leadership, that is OpenGov. It is not perfect, but it does demonstrate the capacity to change and adapt to new situations. In the long-run, I believe it will evolve into a more optimized system.
I think this ability for Polkadot to change and adapt to external (and internal) stimuli will ultimately be the reason why Polkadot will survive: because it is resilient from the world, including from the will of the people who created it.